After switching from HDMI 2.0 TV to HDMI 2.1 no HDR anymore ;(

    After some tested movies I noticed:

    "Adjust display HDR mode" disabled: really nice picture. For my eyes perfect colors and highlights. Brightness 50/50 looks even better.

    "Adjust display HDR mode" enabled: washed out colors, but only with HDR content I believe.

    The tested SDR movies look normal in both modes.

    After all, a big step forward! If nothing more can be done, I would stay with this setup :thumbup:

    Having "Adjust display HDR mode" disabled results in HDR media being tonemapped to SDR whereas enabled implies the hardware is HDR capable (but while the TV might be, the kernel DRM layer says otherwise) so Kodi doesn't tonemap and you see the normal washed out colours when HDR media is used with an SDR colourspace.

    K22 is a big improvement on the previous HDR experience in Kodi but a lot of the underlying logic and config options are still based on K21 capabilities so there's some cleanup/reworking needed. Hopefully by the time K23 ships that's been done; along with more of the kernel level support for colourspace/bit-depth being implemented and matured.

    chewitt Maybe you can explain it to me a little more please? With smp s build, the HDR path is more or less activated in Kodi?

    Is it a technically different thing now to disable "Adjust display HDR mode" and leave the tonemapping to Kodi - or is it the same thing as the default build, no HDR path, and then playing HDR content?

    I really notice a difference or I'm crazy :/ Dune, Coco, Tron... They are all looking like they should. And like they were on the Sony with his "Pseudo-HDR" and displayed BT.2020 mode. The sunrise in Final Fantasy - The spirits within is (now) very impressive.

    And the apple TV screensaver looks better too. (using the 4k videos).

    Quote from sebden

    The TV don't switch official to HDR.

    The log shows that HDR passthrough is now enabled. If the TV does doesn't switch to HDR mode then the theory that HDMI 1.4 can output HDR metadata is wrong.

    Quote from sebden

    Is it a technically different thing now to disable "Adjust display HDR mode" and leave the tonemapping to Kodi - or is it the same thing as the default build, no HDR path, and then playing HDR content?

    It should be the same. Did you try switching different tonemap methods with the default build (Video settings -> Tone mapping)? Each method would look different.

    Quote from smp

    The log shows that HDR passthrough is now enabled. If the TV does doesn't switch to HDR mode then the theory that HDMI 1.4 can output HDR metadata is wrong.

    Just for the kicks I gave your build a try on an ancient gen6 system and got the same result:

    The HDR_OUTPUT_METADATA connector property now appears on the HDMI connector, and kodi set it, but I get the same kernel splat as in the OP's log and my HDFury Vrroom didn't report any HDR metadata - so the infoframe wasn't generated (as expected from the kernel splat)

    so long,

    Hias

    I think I know now what's going on and it does look like a kodi bug to me:

    Even with a SDR display connected (which doesn't report support for BT2020) kodi sets the Colorspace connector property to BT2020 - and my HDFury also shows that in the received AVI infoframe.

    Code
    2026-06-15 19:59:50.957 T:935     debug <general>: virtual void KODI::WINDOWING::GBM::CWinSystemGbm::SetColorimetry(const VideoPicture*): setting connector colorspace to BT2020_RGB (source BT2020_YCC)

    But as the connector doesn't have the HDR_OUTPUT_METADATA property kodi it detects it as a SDR display and performs tonemapping:

    Code
    2026-06-15 19:59:50.957 T:935     debug <general>: LinuxRendererGLES::Configure: HDR passthrough: off
...
2026-06-15 19:59:51.210 T:935     debug <general>: GLES: Requested render method: 0
2026-06-15 19:59:51.210 T:935     debug <general>: GLES: using shader format: NV12 red/red/green
2026-06-15 19:59:51.210 T:935     debug <general>: GLES: using tonemap method: reinhard
2026-06-15 19:59:51.210 T:935      info <general>: GLES: Selecting YUV 2 RGB shader
2026-06-15 19:59:51.210 T:935     debug <general>: GLES: using shader format: NV12 red/red/green
2026-06-15 19:59:51.210 T:935     debug <general>: GLES: using tonemap method: reinhard

    I'm not familiar with the inner details of kodi's tonemapping implementation but I highly suspect that will do both PQ->gamma EOTF transformation and also BT2020->BT709 colorspace transformation.

    So I guess kodi outputs a standard BT709/gamma SDR image, but signals BT2020 colorspace which doesn't quite match.

    smp could you have a closer look at the kodi code?

    so long,

    Hias

    Hey HiassofT and thanks for watching this case too.

    I'm some kind of weird. Does your post explain why the picture looks better with smp s build? Or was it really only imagination? Like mentioned, only if i disable "Adjust display HDR mode" wich not exists in default builds. Enabled looks washed out.

    And does it explain, why my old Sony XH9505 tags the running HDR movies with BT.2020 and SDR movies never (with default libreelec)?

    If it's helpful, I would flash the normal nightly and test again some movies:!:

    The Samsung TV is only a few days old. Maybe I had better testet some image settings before posting here. I only was confused, why the Samsung did not see HDR and the Sony happy switched to what he called BT.2020 and pumps light and colors up.

    Now, with the smp build I had the feeling lights are brighter and colors more vibrant and fiddled again with more brightness, more max brightness and darker BT.1886 setting (-1). Maybe all was imagination and the same settings on a default build would look the same?

    Don't wanted to make so many people so much work. :-/

    sebden no worries, you seem to have uncovered and interesting bug that likely existed for a long time but no-one noticed so far - and your logs and info were very helpful!

    Better go back to official nightlies, the washed-out colors are with HDR enabled are expected as your gen9 intel can't transmit the HDR infoframe.

    With HDR disabled (so kodi tonemaps HDR->SDR) the output should be identical in nightlies and smp's build.

    But signalling BT2020 for a HDR->SDR tonemapped image is still wrong, so the colors won't be correct, maybe oversaturated (likely both on your Sony and Samsung TVs) - that's something that needs to be fixed in kodi.

    While BT2020 colorspace with SDR gamma would be technically possible it's not a standard combination and it's hard to tell how TVs react to that - especially when the TV doesn't receive a HDR infoframe which would explicitly tell it the used EOTF - that's a bit of undefined territory.

    Your Sony seems to have received the (incorrect) BT2020 colorspace info correctly and shown "BT2020" to you and likely intepreted the BT709 data as BT2020. Not sure which EOTF it used, but if it had used PQ you'd likely have gotten over-bright white and in general a way to high contrast.

    Not sure about the Samsung, maybe it just didn't show you the BT2020 (or it's buried somewhere in deeper info pages).

    Nevertheless, if your PC didn't transmit the HDR infoframe and indicate PQ (or HLG) EOTF it's correct that the TV doesn't show "HDR".

    so long,

    Hias

    Quote from smp

    HDMI 1.4 cannot possibly pass through HDR metadata.

    HDR would never work with that mobo on any TV.

    Alright - my mistake :blush:

    Quote from sebden

    Sorry, but that is simply wrong.

    Worked for many months, since I got this device and over more than one libreelec update.

    Sorry for the harsh response. Myth of HDMI 1.4 with HDR busted :!:

    Quote from HiassofT

    sebden no worries, you seem to have uncovered and interesting bug that likely existed for a long time but no-one noticed so far - and your logs and info were very helpful!

    ...

    Nevertheless, if your PC didn't transmit the HDR infoframe and indicate PQ (or HLG) EOTF it's correct that the TV doesn't show "HDR".

    so long,

    Hias

    Glad that it was for a use and helpful for this project I am using myself for years now!

    And thanks chewitt for the fast response and first aid. :angel:

    I switch to regular nightly and later maybe to some cheap N100 cube PC for real HDR. Or I find a workaround for fast switching between GameMode and normal Movie for the Samsung in combination with my gaming machine (W11) and for my big btrfs archive on external drive :/